Suave, sophisticated and almost absurdly handsome, Pierce Brosnan has been making ladies' hearts quiver since his very first film role in The Long Good Friday back in 1980. In celebration of his latest movie, the genuinely delightful Danish romance Love Is All You Need (out this weekend), the man known by Adam And Joe aficionados as Bron-Homme guides us through some select moments of his career, with an extra bonus titbit at the end for any Breaking Bad fans out there...

Did you realise when you were shooting the final scene of The Long Good Friday just what a moment it was?

No, not at all. I didn’t even know what the movie was, to tell you the truth, because I never read the script. It was my first movie offer and my agent just said I should show up somewhere in Tottenham at the crack of dawn. I rocked up and [director] John McKenzie said, “Okay, great. You pick him up. You give him a look. You stab him.” Daragh O’Malley and I showed up like two good Irishmen and make a bomb or we’d kill some people. I had really no idea what was going on – I was so pleased with the gig. I was in the movies, and I was a huge fan of Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren – that was it really.

We did that scene at The Savoy. I got to work around 5 o’clock in the evening and I thought, “God, I really want to drive the car. If I’m driving the car I’m going to look so cool. I’m going to look like Steve McQueen. I’m going to be looking in the mirror, giving my best pose…” Then John McKenzie said, “Right, you’re in the front passenger seat. Hide behind the chair and then pop up.” I thought, “Fuck it. I don’t want to be doing that. I want to be driving the car looking cool.” Little did I know…

John McKenzie drove the car and I sat beside him while [cinematographer] Phil Meheux was in the back seat with the camera. Bob Hoskins was a piece of white tape on a box. We drove down The Strand and McKenzie called action. “Okay,” he said, “You come up now. You've got him. You've got the mother. You look at him.” And he talked me through the scene and I stared at this piece of white tape. Actually, you can get away with so much on a film, then sometimes not a lot… It really is a classic film.

And what a brilliant soundtrack! When Bob Hoskins is in Heathrow and the saxophones are raving out, you just get chicken skin, you really do.

I'd like to read this. But I'm not clicking 13 times to read one article in small pieces. Your print magazine would be about 1,000 pages an issue if you took the same approach there... More

Posted by dx3 on Monday February 10, 2014, 13:45

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Empire, please, a bit of attention goes a long way: the man is spelt Pierre Bronson, as this - clearly more carefully edited - website proves: http://www.hdfest.com/alan/goldeneye_alan.html
mofs: Take a look at bond documentary, Everything Or Nothing, to see what Brosnan/Bronson makes of Die Another Day. That alone makes the DVD a worthwhile buy. More

Posted by Manfrendshensindshen on Tuesday April 23, 2013, 16:48

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I completely agree with his thoughts on the Matador...that film was great. It's a shame it didn't do better.
More

Posted by reviewsquadron on Tuesday April 23, 2013, 12:57

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RE:

I think his comments about being near the 007 sound stage say it all!!! Clearly glad to see the back of them... Shame because Goldeneye is one of my favourites :( More

Posted by DanTDavies on Monday April 22, 2013, 11:36

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Were Die Another Day and TWINE off limits? Would've been interesting to hear his thoughts on them. More